About Giyur Ka'Halacha

Giyur Ka’Halacha is a newly established network of independent rabbinical courts that is adjudicating conversions of qualifying individuals in accordance with Jewish law. It is the necessary response by mainstream Orthodox leaders in Israel to the intractable and untenable refusal of the state-mandated religious establishment to accommodate the needs of thousands of citizens and, in so doing, denying these individuals basic civil rights, including the right to marry, divorce, or be buried, while simultaneously alienating them from their national and Jewish identity.

With support of the Jewish Agency and UJA-Federation of New York, the project was formally launched by a group of activist organizations –Tzohar, Beit Morasha, ITIM, and Ohr Torah Stone – in August 2015, and has met with strongly favorable response by Jewish leaders worldwide and the public at large. Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch serves as the leader of the rabbinical courts.

With more than 450 conversions concluded in its first months of operation, Giyur Ka’Halacha is bringing comfort to families who the national conversion authority is uninterested in helping, is bringing committed converts into the greater community of Israel, and is exerting pressure on both the government and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to adopt more inclusive policies that are respectful of diversity in the world Jewish community.

Giyur Ka’Halacha focuses its activities on young families and children under bar and bat mitzvah age.

Giyur Ka’Halacha has a simple mission: To solve the conversion crisis in Israel.